Chapter Text
FRIDAY
8:30 AM - A.M by One Direction
Soonyoung woke up from the sound of Jihoon's favorite song ringing from his phone on the nightstand, but did he really just wake up to it though? or was he awake all along and just refusing to open his eyes because he was afraid to see the emptiness of his apartment?
He let the song bounce along the walls for a while as he rolled to lie on his back and stare up at the ceiling, it was covered with glow in the dark stars, some fell up a few weeks ago and all that's left on the white wall was the adhesive that failed to keep the star in place.
Soonyoung remembers the night they put it up, neither of them could sleep so JIhoon proposed that they should put up the stars he recently bought from the market.
"Why did you even buy these?
Jihoon didn't answer for a moment, "You were known as Hoshi back in our hometown, and Hoshi means star."
"... Yes, I know that."
Jihoon dropped his hand to his side for a while and waited for Soonyoung to finish placing a piece on the ceiling before he continued, "And I've been busy with work for a while so I just thought that 'hey, maybe his fellow stars could keep him company when I'm away.'"
They both stayed silent for a while after Jihoon's explanation, warmth blossoming on both of their cheeks. A grin made its way to Soonyoung's face and Jihoon knew that a lot of teasing was coming for him after this, "Shut up."
"That's really sweet, hoonie."
"Forget it." Jihoon grumbled under his breath.
Funny how he thinks of that exact moment every morning, unable to dig it out of his mind and bury it anywhere but his heart.
Because that was the night he realized that maybe Jihoon loved him back.
11:30 AM - Better now by Post Malone
Jihoon's phone buzzed in Soonyoung's pocket just as he called everyone to take a break, sweat hands reaching for the buzzing phone in his pocket to turn it off.
Thirty minutes after this alarm, Jihoon would show up at the door of the practice room asking him if they're going to eat together for lunch, they would eat almost the same thing every Monday but what Soonyoung looked forward to were his stories, the endless talk about music and what he was composing at the moment.
Until the spark stopped.
Only burning up again when he realized he'd never hear those stories anymore.
He sat down and put out his lunch box, and he ate the same meal they used to have. Alone this time.
12: 30 AM - Too good to say goodbye by Bruno Mars.
Soonyoung stared at the waves crashing in front of him as he put the bottle up to his lips and took a big gulp of the alcohol, burning his throat as he tried to was his tears down with it, while the waves onto the shore before retreating back to the sea. It was quiet at the beach during this hour, but Jihoon would drag him here during Fridays to make a silly sandcastle and name it Universe Factory.
Jihoon's phone rang for the third time that day, and Soonyoung had just finished his sandcastle, he made sure to make it look pretty every time, or else Jihoon might appear out of nowhere as a ghost and tell him that he should make it look fancy before throwing away the bottle in his hands.
Soonyoung chuckled at the idea.
He wouldn't really mind experiencing that.
'Soonyoung and Jihoon's Universe factory.' He wrote on the sand, he'd be the one to tell Jihoon off for writing it so sloppily but he actually preferred the other's writing, you could see the rush in by looking at it alone due to the excitement because he wanted to take a picture and post It on his Instagram.
Now Soonyoung had to do that on his own as well.
Soonyoung pulled out Jihoon's phone and tapped on the camera icon, all he had to do was raise it up and snap a picture but this time, the wave raised a little higher and washed half of his creation away, dampening his pants at the process. But his head was too fogged by the alcohol to care.
But that wasn't what he was worried about the most.
What scared him was the phone slipping from his hands, washed away by the waves before he could even search for it in the water.
No. No, no.
"Jihoon..." He whispered to the nothingness in front of him.
The phone was the only thing he had left from the other, refusing to let Jihoon's parents take it when they dropped by their shared apartment to take their son's belongings home while looking at him with such anger at the same time.
Because he lost their son.
He was the reason they lost their son.
And now he lost him again.
Maybe he never deserved to keep Jihoon's phone anyway, maybe they knew that he'd lose him over and over again the same way he'd listen to Jihoon's alarms and favorite songs just to feel like he's still there.
But what could he do about it?
He already screamed, cried, and begged for Jihoon to come back but obviously, the skies never listen.
And yet he still looked up at the darkness, specks of lights occasionally blinking down on him. "If you won't bring him back then bring me back instead. Bring me back to the time where I won't have to beg you for anything. I just- I want him back."
Nothing.
But he already expected that.
And so that night he laid down on his bed, unable to sleep without Jihoon's phone playing Blinding Lights by the Weeknd for his 3:30 AM alarm he never knew what for.
But the next morning he woke to the sound of Jihoon's old favorite song playing from the radio, not the phone, not from any alarm, but from the radio that they got from a garage sale exactly 7 years ago.
"Soonyoung, get up! I'll never let you sleep over my house again, you're too messy and please, please take off your shoes."
Soonyoung peeled his eyes open and saw Jihoon hovering over him, with the same annoyed expression he used to give him for years, the same annoyed expression he hasn't seen in years.
But that's how he knew that the sky listened to him this time.